ISSUE 50 SPRING 2016 rThee Newslettersourc of Scotland’s Nationale Academy Supercluster and Galaxies at the Crawick Multiverse. Photo by Charles Jencks, Crawick Artland Trust. More inside ..... Also featured in this issue: RSE Enterprise Fellowships Enlightening the European Debate Quiz-a-Whiz resource SPRING 2016 The Crawick Multiverse Crawick Multiverse is a major land restoration and art project in Dumfries & Galloway, utilising landscape art to transform a former open cast coal mine into an outdoor space which can be enjoyed by future generations. Privately funded by the Duke of Buccleuch and designed by globally-renowned landscape artist Charles Jencks, (both RSE Fellows), Crawick Multiverse is a stunning representation of exciting discoveries and theories of the Universe. This world-class landscape art design links the themes of space, astronomy and cosmology, creating a truly inspiring landmark which will appeal to everyone from art enthusiasts and scientists to the wider community. Here, Charles Jencks gives some insight into what inspired his creation .... Panoramic view (above) by Charles Jencks, Crawick Artland Trust Land art has had a long connection with cosmology and science, which is particularly evident in the Scottish stone circles of Orkney and Aberdeenshire. The ancient builders of these beautiful works would not have called them art, cosmology or science, but they were motivated by aesthetic ideas, and their shaped boulders marked the seasons and the path of the Sun and Moon. In 2005, I was asked by the Duke of Buccleuch to transform an abandoned coal mine in an area of Scotland, Upper Nithsdale, which was in need of economic regeneration. The 55-acre site appeared a wasteland, a desert of rubble and slag. Only on second view, when we climbed high along a heap of spoil, did I see the extraordinary potential. We were atop a steep ridge which had a 360-degree view of the far sculpted hills, at the centre of a cosmic bowl, reminiscent of the one on the Orkneys Andromeda view north (above) that has recently dominated archaeological news. How could and Milkyway (below) by Charles Jencks I pull in this far landscape and design something that might help stimulate the local economy? Necessity forced me to reassess the negative aspects. Why not preserve the desert, and contrast it with the available top soil? Make something of the adjacent gorge, and what the coal diggers had discarded – this high ridge could become a sculpted walkway. I noticed there was a dump of maybe 200 boulders. Use them to create the most basic cosmic mark – a north–south line that would bisect the site. This would force the view, and movement, due north to the extraordinary view at the topmost point. Here we might build a small mound as an eye-catcher, a Belvedere, something to bring in the distant horizon, to capture this cosmic view worthy of ancient land art. 2 resource SPRING 2016 (Above) Charles Jencks (left) pictured with the Duke of Buccleuch by David Cheskin and (right) view to the Sun Amphitheatre by Charles Jencks. Of course, our science and technology are quite different from those of the past, and these set the programme. Our talented contractor had three diggers and dumpers on site, and he was so experienced with his ‘bucket and grab’ that he could move rocks and material around like an Action Painter. So, moving fast and economically, we used the boulders to sculpt the north–south line, dug up two lagoons, used the spoil to shape the ‘Sun Amphitheatre’ for 5,000 people, and started building two, twenty-metre Galaxy Mounds. All my landscape work is symbolically-driven, based on contemporary scientific insights, and in search of new formal patterns to express emergent concepts. Previously, I had built galactic formations, but I was now fascinated by the prediction that our Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies will coalesce in four billion years. Each galaxy has a black hole at its centre and when they first merge, the two spirals will go right through each other and perform a wonderful dance, stripping each other of stars and material until they finally Panoramic view looking south from Amphitheatre by Charles Jencks unite. What a spectacular programme for design! As work progressed, more boulders emerged and I realised they must be used. The largest structures in the Universe – the superclusters of galaxies – became an obvious step up from the two galaxies. I adapted a metaphor from scientists to show how they formed ‘rivers of gravity’ which pull superclusters together, and do so along the scaffolding built by ‘Dark Matter,’ another metaphor which marks an invisible but potent force. The Universe itself was the next largest structure on the route upwards, and by this time we had unearthed another four hundred boulders. So, adopting a previous idea, modelled at the Garden of Cosmic Speculation just north of Dumfries, I decided to construct the Multiverse landform, representing the ensemble of many People walking on one of the Galaxy mounds by David Cheskin universes that may exist and have given birth to ours. This spiral of a hundred ‘failed’ and ‘successful’ universes is based on a deep That is why the Crawick Multiverse was unveiled in 2015 on speculation of our time. Whatever its final truth turns out to be, it the Summer Solstice – and this year on the Summer Solstice leads me to sculpt the meanings on some of these boulders, so that we will follow this up with another impressive performance. visitors can understand that we do know how incredibly fine-tuned This June, from the 24th to the 26th, there will be talks our Universe is for life, and culture. This is the culminating rock of on the arts and sciences – which Jocelyn Bell Burnell will the Multiverse spiral. be leading – and celebrations in the landscape with the For me, land art parallels an agenda of science, to understand local townships (more information will be available soon). the complexity of our Universe. Beyond this, art dramatises For further information about Crawick, such as opening hours our relationship to nature, and the fundamental agents of the and directions, and for more details about events, including those cosmos: the galaxy, black hole, life, the atom, gravity and the in June 2016, visit the website: www.crawickmultiverse.co.uk Sun. Such agents are performative and affect us every day. 3 resource SPRING 2016 The RSE has recently awarded 11 new Impressively, respondents reported Enterprise Fellowships run for a year; Enterprise Fellowships, representing having attracted over £63.5M follow-on however, the legacy of the training and the biggest intake in the history of investment, exemplifying the importance learning has a longer-lasting impact. the scheme. to Scotland’s economic development of The RSE keeps in touch with former encouraging academics to consider participants, inviting them to champion Enterprise Fellowships are granted to commercialisation. the scheme and join networks such as individuals seeking to commercialise the Entrepreneurs’ Club, which their research or technology. The The range of businesses also illustrates encourages the sharing of former initiative aims to support an innovator’s the suitability of Scotland’s current participants’ knowledge and experience. transition into a successful entrepreneur environment for new technology The programme is also carefully with a viable commercial company. companies. designed to put Enterprise Fellows in The scheme has two intake dates a Recent successes of former Enterprise touch with those with expertise in year and, with support from Scottish Fellows include: technology-based businesses. Enterprise, BBSRC and STFC, the scheme • Last month, Barry Johnson, Founder There has never been a better time allows awardees to focus solely on and Company Director of Orkney-based to start-up or spin-out a company in developing their businesses. Awardees tidal energy firm Scotrenewables, Scotland. With such a strong record receive one year’s salary, expert training received a €10M boost from the European of success, the Enterprise Fellowship in entrepreneurship, business Commission’s Horizon2020 programme. scheme grows in popularity, allowing development funding, and access to aspiring entrepreneurs to take those mentorship from the RSE’s business • In January of this year, David Hunter, important first steps toward building Fellows and other successful individuals Chief Executive of Shot Scope, a company a thriving business, whilst also in the commercial community. specialising in golf wearable technology, launched his company’s first products in supporting the growth of Scotland’s Over the 19 years that the Enterprise America. They currently have pre-orders economy and the nation’s history of Fellowship scheme has been in from 14 countries worldwide for their nurturing innovation. operation, it has supported over 200 Shot Scope wristband. fellowships and more than 140 high- • Abesh Thakur, CEO of Two Big Ears, On facing page, read the case history technology businesses have been formed a company which designs immersive of one recent Scottish Enterprise across the UK; ranging from real-time 3D and interactive audio applications, Fellow, Alex Ward, pictured (right) audio technology to drug-free malaria was an Enterprise Fellow last year. with his colleague, Jack Barraclough, treatment, heritage barley cultivation to His company has since worked with in front of their new facilities at the sustainable skis for the free-ride market. musicians – with Björk on the 360º Royal Observatory Edinburgh A recent survey which engaged former virtual reality video for ‘Stonemilker' For more information on the Enterprise Fellows showed that 80% and with Massive Attack on their iOS of the companies created following a app, ‘Fantom’ – gaming companies Enterprise Fellowship scheme, Fellowship have been highly successful and film makers. A couple of the films please visit: and are either still trading or have been they have worked on were showcased bit.ly/RSE-Ent-Fellowships acquired by larger organisations.